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Friday, July 6, 2012

Good News – U. S. Dependence on Oil from the Middle East is Dropping Fast – The Result of New Sources of Energy in the Western Hemisphere

Now Just Don’t Mess Up the Environment

Remember the strident
demands of people like Sarah Palin (drill baby drill) and other harsh
Conservatives who want to exploit America’s most pristine
environmental areas to increase domestic production of oil? Their goal is to reduce U. S. reliance on oil from the Middle
East. But they have not
succeeded, a good working majority of Americans are not all that much in favor
of destroying the environment so their gas guzzling SUV’s can get cheap fuel.

So the conventional
wisdom must be that U.
S. dependence on middle east oil is rising,
because the country was too ignorant to listen to the Sarah Palin’s of the
world. Uh no. Reliance on oil from the
middle east is dropping fast, and in fewer than 25 years it is possible
that the U. S.
will not be importing any oil from that dangerous and unstable region.

By 2020, nearly half
of the crude oil America
consumes will be produced at home, while 82% will come from this side of the
Atlantic, according to the U.S.
Energy Information Administration. By 2035, oil shipments from the Middle East
to North America "could almost be
nonexistent," the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries recently
predicted, partly because more efficient car engines and a growing supply of
renewable fuel will help curb demand.

Wow, that can’t be right, how can the U. S.
gain energy independence without polluting the land and sea? Here’s how

The
shift, a result of technological advances that are unlocking new sources of oil
in shale-rock formations, oil sands and deep beneath the ocean floor, carries
profound consequences for the U.S.
economy and energy security. A good portion of this surprising bounty comes
from the widespread use of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a technique
perfected during the last decade in U.S. fields previously deemed not
worth tampering with.

Of course, Mitt
Romney, who thinks it’s still the 1980’s can’t take U. S. energy success for a good
thing.

The
domestic oil picture has become part of the presidential campaign this year.
President Barack Obama likes to point out that output has surged during his
first term. "We've added enough new oil and gas pipeline to encircle the
Earth and then some," he said in a speech earlier this year. Mitt Romney,
the presumed GOP candidate, says the U.S. must do more to promote
domestic exploration and says Mr. Obama is holding back the industry.

but then Mr. Romney and the Conservatives are not people who
let facts get in the way of a good argument.

It is true a lot of oil will come from Canada, but Canadians are nice people, they buy a lot of U. S. made goods and services and as far as anyone knows they do not want to destroy the state of Israel and obliterate every single Jewish person in the world. They have never, to our knowledge been interested in bombing the U.S. and they are wonderful tourists and buy a lot of stuff that is made in the United States. If one has to buy energy from foreigners they are a good place to buy it from.